Newsletter

Sunday Notebook: Vacant downtown building may be used to inspire artists

Steve Williams, owner of Harbinger Signs, gallery owner and artist, has the old Davis Furniture building downtown under contract.

He hasn’t closed on it and is still doing due diligence and drawing up plans. But what he envisions for the long-empty building at Forsyth and Jefferson streets is a center for artists and young people getting started in other businesses.

The top two floors, about 20,000 square feet, would be working/living spaces for artists. Williams said he plans to move there himself with his two children and his partner. He doesn’t know how many spaces will be there, or whether they’d be sold or rented.

He wants the bottom to be an incubator for chefs and new retail stores. It might have a commercial kitchen and space that could be used for special events. Or restaurant-less chefs could use it to try out recipes, maybe even turn it into their restaurant for the weekend.

But it’s still all up in the air.

The building is rough inside and pretty well gutted. The only access to the third floor now is a ladder.

ETC.

■ In case you missed it last week, the owners of M Shack have signed a letter of intent to build their burger-and-fries restaurant in the Shoppes on Riverside. But no lease has been signed.

■ Race Trac is building two new 6,000-square-foot convenience stores and gas stations at 6913 103rd St. and 8108 Blanding Blvd. at a cost of $1.25 million each. Auld & White Constructors has the contracts.

■ For the last few years, Joshua and Sarah Wathen have taken their Wine & Canvas franchise out to parties, walking people through producing a painting of their own. Now they’re opening a permanent location at the corner of Baymeadows Road and Philips Highway with painting, beer and wine. Opening is planned the second weekend of April.

■ Reputation Capital, a 3-year-old marketing and public relations firm, is now Reputation Ink.